Original subtitles

I'm Chris, aka Flamebaster.

I'm a chef and I love cooking with fire.

Flame basting, baby!

And one thing it's taught me is that food and fire

is a great way to bring people together.

And I've been lucky enough to travel the world,

cooking and feasting at some of the coolest places on the planet.

- Man, what you got? Oh.

- But to be honest, I haven't really explored or cooked much

around my own country, Cymru.

In this series, I'm on a journey through Cymru

to discover its food past, present and future.

Whoa!

I'll be hooking up with chefs... Nick!

LAUGHTER

..showcasing some top foodie destinations... Oh!

..and hidden legends who are striving to protect our food heritage

and those taking it to the next level.

This time I'm in Aberhonddu - aka Brecon -

a market town that's home to some phenomenal produce...

Mm. Ooh!

..and a community that like it hot.

It can't get any spicier!

Brecon is a beautiful little town

and this is the perfect way to see it -

just cruising down the canal.

But to be honest, there's not much I know about the place.

I do know we have the beautiful

Bannau Brycheiniog National Park here,

and that it's a popular spot for keen anglers.

Oh, yeah!

But what I didn't know is that Brecon is also a hot spot

for Nepalese cuisine.

That's because Brecon is home to a community of soldiers

from Nepal called Gurkhas.

Close to the nearby barracks,

around 80 Nepalese families have settled here.

There are three Nepali restaurants in the area

and even the local golf clubs have super authentic Nepalese food.

When he's not in the kitchen,

Chef Manoj is usually out on the course.

Namaste, Manoj! - Namaste.

- How's it going? - Not too bad. Thank you very much.

- Manoj's father was a Gurkha soldier,

and he's lived here since he was 12.

- Take it out for me, please. - Yes, Chef.

He learned to cook at home and had never cooked professionally

until he took over the club's kitchen.

Yes, Manoj. This is where the magic happens, brother.

- Yeah, this is where the magic happens.

- Oh! The smell is off the hook.

Tonight's food is already prepped,

and he's promised me a Nepali feast later.

Beautiful.

But first, I'm going to get to try Manoj's most popular dish by far -

deep-fried dumplings filled with local buffalo meat called momos.

- This is something we always have,

you know, like when I was a kid.

Anywhere in my country, you'll find it in every corners.

Street food. - Street food, momos. - Yeah. - Love it.

- So, we're going to make a couple of these.

- Why is it buffalo meat and not beef?

Is it your preference or is there any other reasons?

- So, with buffalo, we've always had the buffalo since I was a kid.

With beef, that's something we don't normally eat back home. - OK.

- So, we've always had the buffalo in our country.

- Awesome.

After rolling out these small discs of dough,

Manoj uses a spoonful of his special buffalo meat

and pinches it together in a perfect little parcel.

First time making momos.

I'm probably going to make a mess of this.

- If you grab it like that, right?

And then leave your thumb there

and then just put this index finger there.

- Yeah.

- So, yeah, there we go.

That's perfect. - I'm happy with that, chef.

- Yeah. Look at that!

- So, over to the steamer,

and after about 15 minutes, they're transferred into the fryer.

It's not long until they turn a beautiful golden brown.

These glorious little dumplings are served with a hot momo sauce

made with tomatoes, onions,

Szechuan peppers and a load of chillies.

Let's go, chef. - Give it a try.

- Mm. - Nice? - Mm!

My taste buds are tingling,

and the zingyness of the sauce cuts through the fattiness of the buffalo.

Your momos is my new favourite thing. - Oh, thank you.

- That is stunning, that! - Thank you very much.

- That is stunning.

But Manoj hasn't finished yet.

He dishes out a Thali set,

a tray full of traditional Nepali dishes -

a red-hot buffalo curry,

warming black lentil dahl

and a curry with chicken gizzards,

a part of the stomach used in street food across Asia.

There's also rice and a papadum to mop it up.

I don't know what to do,

but I just really want to give you a round of applause, there.

- Thank you. - That is just amazing.

Dhan'yavad. - Thank you, uh...

How do you say in Wales? Cro... Croeso?

- To complement this flavour-packed feast,

Manoj makes us a mango lassi to drink,

and the Nepali way to eat is with your hands.

- So, you do it like that. - Yeah?

- Yeah. Put them together. Yeah. There you go.

Mm. - Mm.

That dahl is stunning.

So flavoursome.

But the juice from the chicken curry, it's just so fresh.

Everything is fresh, zingy.

It's very comforting food, yeah?

Mm.

Shall we have a game of golf after? - Yeah. - Yeah?

Walk off all this food? - Yeah.

And then we'll probably come back again and eat some more, yeah?

- I'm quite impressed there's no mess on my shirt either.

- I know, I'm very impressed.

You're quite good.

- CHRIS LAUGHS

In my teens, I played golf professionally

on the European Long Drive Tour...

..hitting the ball as far as possible.

But although it got off to a decent start,

Manoj was more than a match.

Beautifully done.

And by the end, his putting was more on point than mine.

I should probably stick to cooking.

Yes, baby!

- Thank you very much.

- I need to practise more.

- Yeah.

- After that spicy start, I'm looking for something to drink.

And I've heard that there's a new gin producer

at a farm on the outskirts of town.

Using the Bannau Brycheiniog landscape

as the inspiration for their gin,

mother Julie and daughters Heidi and Naomi

are literally trying to bottle the essence of this land.

Hello. How are you?

- Hello. - How's it going? Nice to meet you.

The whole family of gin pioneers

and the concoctions in these bottles

use water from deep within local caves.

I've never heard of that before.

- If you've got some time,

I'd love to take you to the caves and show you.

- Yes, yes. Let's go caving!

Wow. Didn't expect to see any dinosaurs on the way.

Yup - prehistoric creatures

pepper the road to the Dan Yr Ogof cave system,

reminding us how water has taken over 315 million years

to create these magical tunnels.

Ah! - Yeah.

So, this is a really important element to our gin.

This is our water source.

As you can see, it's filtering through the rocks

and we're capturing it in a water container.

So, we did a couple of tests and this is the chosen spot.

- So, this is the perfect spot.

Can I try some? - Please.

It's got lots of minerals.

- SHE CHUCKLES

- We try and capture every botanical that the water touches

on its way down to this source.

- Amazing, amazing.

And I do enjoy drinking water, but I'm not here for the water.

I want to taste the gin.

- Come with me. - Let's go, let's go.

Not only do they use the caves for the magic in their product,

they believe that they're the first to age their gin underground.

Oh, wow!

How cool is that?

And the barrels are the oak barrels.

- They are French oak, seasoned import,

so the berries from the port

adds another layer of complexity to the gin.

- I really want a taste. - Oh, absolutely.

- BOTH CHUCKLE

This is a real treat -

gin straight from the barrel.

Wow. Wow!

But there's a beautiful colour.

Does the barrels add any colour to the gin? - It does.

The port adds a little amber colour to it.

- All adds to the golden vibe in the caves.

- "Liquid gold", we call it. - Iechyd da. - Iechyd da.

- Wow.

That's strong. - It's strong.

- But still...still smooth. Fruity.

It's so good.

Mm!

Whoo!

Ho-ho-ho!

That gin's really got my juices flowing

and I feel a need to cook something using it,

so I really think it'll complement one of my favourite freshwater fish.

The River Usk that runs right through Brecon

is apparently one of the best trout and salmon fishing rivers in Wales,

and I've got a banging trout recipe I want to try out.

To keep wild fish numbers up,

many anglers catch and release trout these days.

But in downtown Brecon market,

I can get my hands on sustainable, locally farmed trout.

You've got some trout for me? - I have indeed, yeah. Local trout.

- Yeah. Two of your juiciest fillets, please.

- Yeah. - Matches my T-shirt, too.

- You picked the right one for today! - CHRIS CHUCKLES

So, where better to cook these lovely fresh fillets

than right on the river?

Look at this bad boy.

Deep colour, lovely fat content.

Stunning trout.

And I want to show you how to hot smoke them -

my favourite way to cook trout.

Let's roll some smoke.

But first off, let's make a glaze.

Begin with some runny honey.

Next up, soy sauce for a salty hit,

Worcestershire sauce,

pomegranate molasses that's sweet and tangy,

and lemon juice.

Last but not least, the cave-aged gin.

Wow, it smells amazing! It smells amazing.

I'm mixing it up with my rosemary brush

that I'll use to glaze the trout.

A lot of glazing recipes need to be boiled up,

but I really don't want to cook out the alcohol in the gin, OK?

I want the flavour of the gin to stand out.

I've got the trout on some hardwood planks.

A little oil on the fish,

and on the smoker they go.

The planks will stop the fish from sticking on the grill.

The smoker's rocking at around 160 degrees

and this oily, fatty fish can handle some strong flavours,

so I'm using a handful of aromatic dried juniper,

the main botanical in gin.

Every few minutes, I check and brush the fillets with the glaze.

These won't take long to cook,

so just enough time to make a super simple salad

with radishes and watercress,

a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of the glaze.

The trout fillets have been smoking for a good 20 minutes now,

and get in on this reveal,

cos this is why I love hot smoking.

The glaze is just giving it a turbo-charged colour,

and just come in here.

You know it's soft.

You know it's juicy.

You know it's going to be flaky, beautiful, melt-in-the-mouth.

I love it. Let's get it on the plate.

Careful now, Christopher. You don't want to break it.

You don't want to drop it on the floor.

Oh, yeah!

The second one on cos I'm flipping starving.

And look at that - hot smoked trout!

Juniper smoke, gin-infused glaze.

Crunchy salad. Bit of love.

Fire and smoke.

Now, quick, get the money shots, get the close-ups,

cos I want to eat this trout hot!

This Welsh trout beats an Atlantic farmed salmon

every time for me.

So tender, so juicy.

That's a phenomenal fish.

And it's really simple.

If you don't have a smoker, you can do this recipe in the oven.

It's just as special, you know?

Nutty, sweet, delicate

local trout from a local fishmonger.

I love Brecon. It's a really cool place, yeah?

In this area, the River Usk runs through very fertile ground.

So, I'm off to a nearby farm to meet a Spanish dude that grows all sorts

of juicy fruits to flavour his funky natural ciders and beers.

And catch up with Adrian and his wife Alys,

in their organic berry field.

- Well, welcome to our berry land, Chris. - Yeah, thank you.

This is a beautiful berry land.

- Not bad. So, we've got here, like, a bush of blackcurrants.

So if you would like to help us harvest some.

- I'll have a taste. - Taste test first.

- What you think?

- Are they good?

- ALYS LAUGHS

- An explosion. - An explosion.

So juicy.

Every fruit bush is attended to with care here

and the results speak for themselves.

These large gooseberries are, unusually, red ones.

- What do you think?

- Whoa!

They're so sweet.

- Very moreish. - Wow! - Very moreish.

- In keeping with the sustainable ethos here,

the apple orchard is also used as a campsite.

And there's loads of apple varieties here for different styles of ciders.

- They are looking good, and, yeah, you can probably try one,

but it's still early days,

but you would probably prefer the cider rather than the apple.

- Oh! - Ooh.

A bit tart,

but, no, they'll be ready in a couple of months, yeah?

- That's it, yeah.

- I don't know why I took another bite.

I'm just a sucker for cider.

And back at one of the barns, I finally get a taste.

- Go on. - Is this just for me?

- Just for you. - Just for you. - All for you. - I'm in heaven.

So, tell me,

how does a Spanish man end up...

- In this beautiful place? - ..in the countryside of Wales?

- Well, I guess partly it's because of her.

Cos we wanted to come back to the rural areas

and try to make something interesting,

and saw what Wales can offer in terms of food and drinks.

- So, tell me a bit more about natural cider.

What makes a cider natural?

- Well, that's a good question, I guess.

So, the approach we do is basically nothing added, nothing taken away.

Just get the apple, mill and press

and try to sell what that apple can offer.

- I guess that's how cider would have been made 500 years ago.

- Oh, 100%. - Yeah. - And part of our link to Spain

is revisiting those old traditions that perhaps

in Spain have managed to survive,

but somewhere in Wales have been lost along the way.

- Yes, you're bringing it back to Cymru. I love it.

The first one is made from cooking apples,

and it's citrusy and punchy.

Mm!

- You've got that acidity, you've got the apple flavour. - Oh, so good.

The next is made from an apple variety called Kingston Black,

and it's richer and sweeter.

That's a bit of me, that is.

Yeah, I love that sweetness.

They also try techniques like fermenting in apple brandy barrels,

which turbocharges the appley taste and aroma.

Oh, wow. That's com... That's very complex flavour.

- Yeah. - It's a buttery smooth finish, too. It's stunning.

I could stay here all day, but all those apples

and juicy, sweet fruits at the farm

has got me thinking about cooking a fruity tart.

And, luckily for me, I can hopefully source some pastry

a short walk away.

Here in Talgarth is Talgarth Mill,

where local grains are milled in a traditionally eco-friendly way.

Bore da, Alex. How are you? - Hi.

- At the cafe and bakery,

Alex, the head baker and awesome pastry chef,

uses the flour to make traditional loaves

and loads of sweet treats.

So I've challenged him to make me a puff pastry for my tart,

using the mill's wholemeal flour and plenty of the good stuff.

Alex, that is a beautiful butter to pastry ratio.

CHRIS CHUCKLES

- You've got to have a lot of butter. - Yes!

- So, if you want to start rolling it out.

- OK, boss.

I'm not a master baker, and, I have to admit,

I usually buy ready-made puff pastry from the shop.

- Cut it.

- But under the watchful eye of Alex,

the process seems a lot easier than I thought.

- There you go. That'll probably do.

And then we're going to fold it to create the layers,

so we're going to do what's known as a book fold.

So we're going to take the dough to the other end.

And that is your book fold. - Nice. - So it's like a book.

- Lovely. So, what makes the pastry puff?

Cos there's no yeast or anything in it, is there?

- No, it's just the water evaporating from the butter.

- So, is that creating steam? - Creating steam.

- And that creates the puff. - Puffs up. - Ahh.

- Hope it goes well. - Yeah, hope it goes well.

I hope I don't burn your pastry. ALEX LAUGHS

I'll give you another call. "Get rolling again, Alex!"

Dough sorted,

so back at Adrian and Alys's orchard,

I fire up my oven,

and I pick all the fruit that I need to make

a classic French pudding...

..baby!

Can't get any better than this.

Adrian's beautiful apples.

The sun is out.

The wood oven is getting hot.

Very simple.

Let's get the pan on the fire,

get it warmed up,

and let's peel some apples.

The apples need to hold their shape in the oven, so cooking apples

are a bit too floury.

Any eating apples, though, will hold up well.

Keep them in water with some lemons to stop them from browning.

To make a caramel, mix some caster sugar with butter

and give it some heat.

But you do need to check it and stir it often,

because the turn towards the burn can happen quickly.

Whoo! And that's what I'm looking for.

Deep caramel.

Just arrange your slices peeled side down.

Ah!

HE CHUCKLES

..so watch your fingers and kind of pack it in tight.

And that smell already is taking me back to my childhood -

Halloween, toffee apple.

This is an adult toffee apple, basically.

I love it.

You could put the pastry straight on,

but I like to get the apples to start softening up first

and get some char.

Beautiful.

Now for that dough I made with Alex.

I just lay it on the top and cut a hole for the steam to escape.

Cos you don't want a soggy crust.

I'm going to cook this for around 15 minutes,

and don't be scared of any burnt bits.

It's all flavour, baby.

Yes! The tarte tatin is ready.

Whoo!

I've taken the pastry to the limit, to the max.

So when it gets flipped upside down, there's going to be a lot of juices,

so you want to keep that crunchy, crunchy, crunch.

While I let that rest,

I'm going to cook off some of Adrian's blackcurrants

and red gooseberries to go on the side.

They're so sweet,

they don't need any sugar.

Right, then, the moment of truth.

And it doesn't matter how many millions of tartes tatin I've done

in my time, I get really nervous for the flip.

You've got to do it quick.

Boom! Whoa!

And now...

Please.

When I pray, it's always in Welsh.

Woohoo-hoo-hoo!

Yes!

Now I can do it with confidence,

because boom!

Yum, yum!

Super sexy caramelised apples

topped with sweet juices,

a big dollop of creme fraiche,

a spoonful of the juicy berries,

and fresh mint to finish.

A sweet celebration of the fruits of Brecon.

It's beautiful.

Caramel, juicy, soft apples,

but they've still retained the texture.

Stunning, stunning.

I need to give Adrian a shout.

Surely he needs to have a taste? Adrian!

Come on, mate.

- Someone says my name...

Look at that.

- Adrian is a massive foodie, so his opinion really matters.

- Oh!

Very good mate. - Yes!

- Oh, well done. - Muy bien.

- Oh!

- So, the man from Spain, he says, "si". - Really, really good.

- It's so cool to discover the amazing produce that's available in Brecon.

I want to celebrate the place and its people with a cookout.

Now, one place in Brecon I have been to before

is this place, Hills.

- Hey, shwmae. - You good, yeah? - Yeah, good.

- Local boy Owain Hills

has put Brecon on the map with his multi-award winning,

locally-produced filthy burgers.

After my first taste of Nepali food with Manoj earlier,

Owain's the man to help me create a Nepali-inspired burger

for the Brecon locals.

But chef Jess insists I try some of their newest creations

before we get to work.

First up, this crazy bacon cheeseburger

between two glazed doughnuts,

dripping with maple syrup.

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!

When you lick your lips, yeah, you get the glaze on the lips.

And if you don't dig meat,

Owain's got a huge black bean vegan burger

with pickled onion and creamed avocado sauce.

Have I got any sauce on my face?

- THEY LAUGH

Mm! You guys put a lot of work and development

into these burgers, yeah?

- Yeah, the menu sort of sometimes from one burger

sort of goes boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. - Yeah.

- And you're like, "Wow, like that. OK, cool."

- And I need your brains in gear now cos I've got a challenge for you.

I really want to do a little cookout... - Yeah.

- ..celebrate the Nepalese community here,

and come up with a Nepali burger.

- That sounds outstanding. We love a challenge.

- We can do that.

- So, with a belly full of burgers,

Owain, Jess and I get to work with some Nepali spices.

Yes, Chef.

There are some classic spices here,

like cardamom,

Sichuan peppercorns

and coriander seeds.

And some I've never heard of before.

How do you say it again?

THEY LAUGH

That one.

A pinch of asafoetida apparently brings the best

out of every other spice.

This blend will be a real lip-smacking rub on the meat.

Yes! Next, we try a take on

the banging momos sauce that Manoj gave me earlier.

A garlicky mix of onions,

peppers, tomatoes and hot chillies

with a good fistful of the spice mix.

The momos sauce is ready to blend.

I'm quietly confident it'll complement the burger's

most essential ingredient -

some lovely Welsh lamb.

So, Owain, tell me the key to a perfect burger.

- Erm, there's a lot of things.

A good fat content in there,

around about 20%.

We smash them fairly thin,

and we love it because you get a juicy burger,

but still get that insane crust

which is full of flavour as well. - Yeah.

And with a shake of our specially-made rub,

the crust on these should be banging.

That spice is mingling with the dancing, rendering lamb fat.

Whoo!

We double up, load them with cheese,

and they're ready for a bed of momos sauce

and a lime-pickled salad of onions, chillies and coriander.

This burger is a brand-new Nepali-inspired super snack.

- I'm taking a picture of you taking a picture of a burger. - Wow.

THEY LAUGH

- Jess, get behind me and take a picture of me taking a picture.

Cheers. - Iechyd da. - Cheers. - Iechyd da. - Iechyd da.

- Mm!

That's good. - That lamb is phenomenal.

- The lamb is so good. - Mm, but I think it's the sauce that makes it, Chris.

- It's great when a plan comes together, isn't it?

- Mm, I know. - First time.

- How are you going to make that better?

Can you make it better? - I don't think we can,

- CHRIS LAUGHS

- What about a burger inside a dumpling?

- Cheeseburger dumpling.

That could be done. - Mm.

- Don't, stop now, stop now. Stop, stop, stop, stop.

THEY LAUGH

So, with a spiced lamb burger tasting on point,

I'm looking for a load of Black Mountain lamb mince

for the feast tonight.

So, if you could bone some breast and shoulders for me, then?

- Certainly. I'll use these, all these shoulders we've got here.

- Oh, nice. - Take them downstairs.

We'll pop them through the mincer.

It'll be about an hour. - See you in a bit. Diolch.

Mince sorted.

And up at the Sobremesa farm,

Owain's arrived with his sexy Airstream food truck.

You all right? - Yeah, good. - Wow.

- Cheers. - That is so cool.

- Shiny.

- I've invited loads of Brecon locals to come

and chow down on our burgers.

- Namaste. - Namaste, how are you?

And Adrian is on drinks duty with his fruity ciders,

so we'd better get our cook on.

Are you guys ready for a burger?

Yes!

Let's get cooking.

With our production line in full swing,

the Nepalese-spiced Welsh lamb burgers are looking

and smelling awesome.

The first eight burgers are ready.

There you go. - Thank you very much.

- Enjoy.

- If you want more sauce, give me a shout.

It's spicy.

- How many chillies did you put in?

LAUGHTER

And I really hope we've nailed those Nepali spices.

- The combination is really good and I think it goes very well

with the burger.

- No, it's nice, yeah.

Adds a little bit of spiciness to it.

- Spicy, juicy.

Perfect for me.

- All the people that I've met on my Brecon food journey...

- Yo, Alex!

- ..have turned up for a munch.

Manoj, namaste.

But the person I want to please the most is Chef Manoj,

who inspired me to make this epic burger.

CHRIS CHUCKLES - I'm starting to lick my finger now.

- Yeah, Manoj, that's a good sign. - Wow.

- You taught me how to eat with my hands.

- THEY LAUGH

- Oh, this is really, really nice.

- Iechyd da.

Is it good? Be honest, though.

Be honest. - Really nice.

- Wow!

Is the sauce spicy enough

or do you want more spice?

- Maybe a little bit more.

More?! More?!

Wow!

- There's a different one, you will see.

- Diolch. Diolch, mate.

- What did they think? - They loved it.

Three at the end was like, "Oh, we want more spice."

I'm like, "How? We can't get any spicier!"

HE LAUGHS

- Thank you, please. - Thank you. - Thank you.

Thank you very much. - See you next time.

- Oh! - It was delicious, the burger was. - Oh, thank you, thank you.

Thank you. I've had an amazing time in Brecon.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And who'd have thought I'd find such delicious Nepalese food

right here in the heart of Wales?

CHEERING

I love the passion, the dedication and the commitment

of the chefs making top-notch food with local ingredients.

Diolch o galon. Thank you so much. - No, diolch.

- And I'll defo be back for more.